Oil drain pump assembly for internal combustion engines

ABSTRACT

An oil drain pump assembly for internal combustion engines includes an electric motor-powered pump body operatively mounted to an engine crankcase. A threaded adapter enables withdrawal of crankcase oil through standard crankcase drain plug openings. The pump assembly also includes a valve with a remote latching means that enables positive control of oil flow through the pump. A drain hose is provided to facilitate draining of the crankcase oil at a location remote from the crankcase drain plug.

Bottum Nov. 25, 1975 [5 OIL DRAIN PUMP ASSEMBLY FOR 2.337.700 12/1943 Wareham 417/423 R INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 3,650,352 3/1972 Schwary i 3,743,053 7/1973 Kuklewicz .i [84/].5

[75] Inventor: Charles F. Bottum, Coeur dAlene,

Idaho [73] Assignee: Lyle E. White, Spokane, Wash. a

part interest [22] Filed: July [8, 1974 [2|] Appl. No.: 489,705

[52] US. Cl a. l84/l.5; 184/31; 417/423 R [51] Int. Cl. F0lM 11/04 [58] Field of Search [84/].5, 3l,26;4l7/352, 417/367, 423, 424

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l,509,023 9/!924 Page l84/l.5 1,962,623 6/l934 Sweelland h l84/i.5

Primary Examiner-Richard J. Apley Assislant Examiner-Marvin Siskind Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wells, St. John & Roberts [57] ABSTRACT An oil drain pump assembly for internal combustion engines includes an electric motor-powered pump body operatively mounted to an engine crankcase A threaded adapter enables withdrawal of crankcase oil through standard crankcase drain plug openings. The pump assembly also includes a valve with a remote latching means that enables positive control of oil flow through the pump A drain hose is provided to facilitate draining of the crankcase oil at a location remote from the crankcase drain plug.

5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 35.. I I, a

\ maw a rza r20 e t (26 Q t s US. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet 1 of2 FIG 3 US. Patent N0v.25, 1975 Sheet20f2 3,921,759

OIL DRAIN PUMP ASSEMBLY FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates basically to fluid pumps and more particularly to such pump assemblies utilized for emptying crankcase oil from internal combustion engines.

Boats having inboard motors usually have oil drain outlets for draining the crankcase oil underneath the engine at inaccessible locations. Frequently, the oil can only be removed through the engine dipstick opening. Various mechanisms have been provided to accomplish this but some engine designs do not permit passage of a siphon tube to the crankcase oil through the dipstick tube.

Additionally, problems are caused by oil escaping into the bottom of the boat and, often, into the water surrounding the boat. It is therefore desirable to provide a pump assembly that may be carried at or adjacent the drain plug of the engine crankcase that is operable to pump the crankcase oil from the engine and into an appropriate remote receptacle without spillage.

US. Pat. Nos. 2,206,992 to Wood and 3,743,053 to Kualewicz both show adapters to replace an oil drain plug. These adapters utilize spring-closed check valves with a pump being mounted on the side of the engine above the crankcase. U.S. Pat. No. 2,635,550 describes a pump and electric motor in one assembly utilizing a tube to extend down the dipstick opening to pump oil from the engine crankcase. Other United States patents of interest are US. Pat. Nos. 2,216,360 to E. J. Sweetland; 1,962,623, also to Sweetland; 1,922,37l to Hammond et al.; 2,175,624 to E. I... Wood.

The pump comprising my invention is utilized to mount directly to an engine crankcase through use of an adapter complementary to the original crankcase drain plug. The pump is electrically operated by a motor and may be controlled by a remote switch to pump oil from the crankcase outwardly through a discharge tube. An easily accessible valve control is provided to enable positive control of oil flow through the pump. The valve control operates independently of the pump motor contro! and thereby provides a safety feature, preventing inadvertant or accidental removal of oil from the crankcase.

It is a first object of the present invention to provide a pump assembly that is very simple in construction and easily mountable to existing engine crankcases.

Another object is to provide mechanisms to enable positive control of oil flow other than by operation of a pump motor.

It is a further object to provide such a pump assembly that is compact in nature and is therefore easily mounted in restricted locations.

It is a yet further object to provide such a pump as sembly that may be adapted to tit any known engine crankcase drain plug.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following disclosure which, taken with the accompanying drawings, disclose a preferred and alternate form of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred and alternate form of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating operation of the present invention on an ordinary crankcase;

FIG. 2 is a pictorial view of a preferred form of the pump assembly;

FIG. 3 is a sectioned view taken along line 33 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectioned view taken substantially along line 4-4 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of a valve latch assemy;

FIG. 6 is a pictorial view of an alternate form of the pump assembly; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectioned view taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A pump assembly embodying a preferred form of the present invention is illustrated in the FIGS. 24, the alternate form being shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The preferred form is designated by the reference numeral 10, and the alternate form by 100. Pump assemblies 10, are both utilized to remove crankcase oils 11 from engine crankcases such as that illustrated at 12 (FIG. 1). Crankcases 12 generally include a drain opening 13 located at the lowest ele vational point on the crankcase to enable oil to gravitationally flow from the crankcase for changing purposes. Each pump assembly 10,10a is operatively mountable to drain opening 13 and includes a drain hose 14 extending therefrom to allow the crankcase oil to be pumped to a remote location.

Elements of pump assembly 10 of the preferred form are illustrated in substantially more detail by FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. Pump assembly 10 basically includes a pump assembly housing 15 having an internal annular central pump cavity 16. The pump cavity extends along a longitudinal axis of the housing 15 and openly communicates with an axial inlet 17. The central axis is designated at x-x in FIG. 3.

A threaded adapter 20 is mounted within inlet 17 having an aperture 19 therein coaxial with inlet 17 and communicating with the pump cavity 16. An outlet 18 (FIG. 4) extends laterally tangentially from the cavity 16 along an axis perpendicular to the central housing axis .r-x.

Adapter 20 includes a threaded bolt head section 21 that is complementary to the drain opening in crankcase 12. Adapter 20 is slidably engaged and sealed within a socket 19 formed in inlet 17 by a locking set screw 23 and an O-ring 22. Adapter 20 is removable from pump assembly housing 15 to facilitate ease in mounting the pump to the crankcase. Once adapter 20 is threadably engaged within drain opening 13, the pump may be slidably engaged over the O-ring, and set screw 23 tightened to secure the adapter in place.

A centrifugal pump body 26 is provided having radial impellers 27 thereon. Pump body 26 is axially'located within the central pump cavity I6 and is rotatably carried on a drive shaft 30 of an electric motor 31. Drive shaft 30 of motor 3I is coaxial with the central assembly housing axis for rotating the pump body 26 about axis .r---.r within cavity 16. A seal 32 is provided between housing I5 and motor 3| to prevent escape ofoil into the motor housing. Motor 3| is designed to rotate impellers 27 at sufficient velocity to ccntrifugally pump the crankcase oil from cavity I6 outwardly to outlet III.

In order to prevent undesirable seepage of crankcase oil through drain hose I4. a manually-operablc valve means 34 is provided. Valve means 34 is comprised of a rod 36 extending into the housing I5 within a complcmentary valve bore 35 that intersects outlet I8. Rod 36 has an outside cross-sectional diameter equal to or greater than the inside diameter of outlet passageway III. 'lhercfore when the rod 36 is moved to a closed position as indicated in FIG. 4. passage of oil is not permitted past the point of intersection of the rod and out let.

Rod 36 is held in the closed position by means of a spring 38 mounted within a housing 4I. Spring 38 is a compression-type spring and is mounted within housing 4| to abut a surface 42 within the housing and an abutment surface 43 on rod 36. Housing 4| is held remote from the assembly housing I5 by an elongated tube 37. The lengths oftubc 37 and rod 36 may vary with access requirements and engine design. Further. it is conceivable that rod 36 may he constructed of flexible material to enable bends along the length of tube 37.

A latching means 40 is provided to permit selective positioning of valve 34 in the open or closed position. It is comprised of a lever 44 mounted to rod 36 and extending radially therefrom for sliding axial and rotational movement within an l.-shaped slot 45. The lever 44 is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 at a position within slot 45 where the valve is in a closed condition projecting into the outlet I8. 'lo latch the valve in an open condition. lever 44 is moved to a cross portion 46 (FIG. 5) ofslot 45 as shown by dashed lines in FIG. 4. In this position. the lever is rotated in a fast direction into cross portion 46. ross portion 46 prevents movement of the rod along its axis toward the closed position as urged by spring 38. To unlatch the rod and allow it to return to the closed position, the user rotates lever 44 back into an axial portion 47 of slot 45 allowing spring 38 to move the rod to the closed position.

Valve means 34 and latching means 40 provide positive control of oil llow. a safety feature that prevents draining of the crankcase oil by unintentional operation of motor 3|. If the valve means 34 is in a closed position, even operation of motor 3| will not be sulTlcicnt to cause oil to How past valve means 34 and out tube I4.

to drain crankcase I2, the user must first move the valve to an open position to allow escape of the crankcase oil into drain hose I4. Once the valve is opened. a switch 48 may be operated to supply power from a source 47 to the motor 3t Pump impellers 27 then rotatc to eenlrifugally force the crankcase oil along drain hose I4 and outward into an appropriate container 49 at some remote location. When the oil has been drained. switch 48 is deactuated and valve 34 is moved to the closed position. sealing the central pump cavity I6 from drain hose I4.

The alternate pump form I (FIGS. 6 & 7) employs a somewhat different arrangement of elements to provide a variation in mounting adaptability and operating characteristics relative to the preferred form.

Pump I00 includes a pump housing II having an inner pump cavity II6 defined by an axial wall Il7 continuous about a central longitudinal pump axis v-- A lateral inlet opening III! extends through housing II5 to openly communicate with cavity II6. A lateral outlet I20. extends outward from open communication with cavity II6. A pump body II) is located within cavity I I6 for rotation therein to receive crank case oil through inlet IIII and force it out through outlet I20 and a drain tube I50 mounted thereto (FIG. 6) Pump body I2I will be discussed in more detail below.

The lateral orientation of inlet I III and outlet I20 en ables use ofa conventional adapter known as a banjo" titling as shown in FIG. 6 at IZI. Such banjo fittings rcplace standard crankcase drainplugs (not shown) and enable a hose such as that shown at I22 to be mounted thereon. Hose I22 may he of any desired length to allow selective positioning of pump I0u at any desired location remote from crankcase drain opening I3. (FIG. I). Hose I22 extends from fitting I2I to inlet opening II8 of pump I0.

Pump body II) is comprised of a plurality of radial. flexible impeller vanes I25 mounted within cavity II6 for rotation about axis v The impeller vanes I25 are joined to a circular driving drum I24 mounted coaxially with axis y The impeller vanes I25 extend radially outward from drum I24 to ends I26 that slidably engage axial cavity wall II7. A motor I27 (similar to motor 31 of the preferred form) is operatively connccted to impeller vanes I25 through the connecting drum I24. Motor 127 operates to rotate impeller vanes I25 about axis y in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 7.

Pump cavity I I6 is cylindrical about axis y-y except for a cam surface I30 provided along axial cavity wall II7 between inlet H8 and outlet I20. Surface I30 is located at the radius from axis that is somewhat less than a radius to the remaining portion of axial wall II7. (am surface I30 causes the rotating impeller vanes I25 to flex as they rotate. Such flexion changes the volume between adjacent vanes as they pass by the inlet and outlet IIII. I20.

For example, one vane I250 moving past inlet IIII is allowed to flex outwardly. increasing the volume between it and the next upstream vane I25!) presently on cam surface I30. This creates a suction force. drawing crankcase oil through inlet IIII and into cavity II6. As the vanes continue to rotate within cavity II6, the same vane I25 again engages cam surface 130. This time. can surface I30 flexes vane a inwardly to reduce the volume between vane I25 and adjacent upstream vane I2Sh thereby forcing the oil held therebetween through outlet I20 and out drain tube I50. Surface I30 extends angularly about axis y a distance SIIITICICI'II to enable engagement of two adjacent vanes thereon between inlet and outlet IIII, I20.

A valve means I35 is provided for pump I00 that is substantially identical to valve means 34 in the preferred form. Valve means I35 is comprised of a rod I36 extending into housing II5 with a complementary valve bore I37 extending into housing II5 within a complementary valve bore I37 that intersects outlet I20. Rod I36. like rod 36. has an outside crosssectional diameter equal to or greater than the inside diameter of outlet I20. Thus. when rod I36 is moved to a closed position as shown in FIG. 7. passage of oil is not permitted past the point of intersection of rod I36 and outlet I20. even if pump I00 is inadvertently operated.

Rod 136 is held in the closed position by means of a spring 138 mounted within a housing 141. Spring 138 is a compression type spring and is mounted in housing 141 to abut a surface within the housing and an abutment surface on rod 136 identical to surfaces 42 and 43 shown in FIG. 4 of the preferred form. Housing 141 is held remote from the assembly housing 115 by an elongated tube 139. The length of tube 139 and rod 136 may vary with access requirements and engine design. Further, it is conceivable that rod 136 may be constructed of flexible material to enable bends along line of tube 139.

A latching means 140 (FIG. 6) is provided to permit selective positioning of valve 134 in an open or closed position. It is comprised of a lever 144 mounted to rod 136 and extending radially therefrom for sliding axial and rotational movement within an L-shaped slot 145. The lever 144 is shown in FIG. 6 at a closed position with slot 145 where the valve is in a closed position projecting into outlet 120. To latch the valve in an open condition, lever 144 is moved to a cross portion 146 of slot 145. In this position, the lever is rotated in a first direction into cross portion 146. Cross portion 146 prevents movement of the rod along its axis toward the closed position as urged by spring 138. To unlatch the rod and allow it to return to a closed position, the user rotates lever 144 back to an axial portion 147 of slot 145, allowing spring 138 to move the rod to the closed position.

Valve means 134 and latching means 140 provide a positive control of oil flow, a safety feature that prevents draining of the crankcase oil by unintentional operation of the motor 131. If the valve means 134 is in a closed position, even operation of motor 127 will not be sufficient to cause oil to flow past valve means 135 and out a flexible drain tube 150 (FIG. 6) attached to the outlet 120.

Operation of the pump a is substantially identical to operation of the preferred form 10 described above. In order to drain the crankcase, the user first moves valve 135 to an open position to allow escape of crankcase oil into the drain tube 150. Once valve 135 is open, a switch similar to that shown at 48 (FIG. 1) may be operated to supply power from the source, such as that shown at 47, to motor 127. The vanes 125 then rotate to force crankcase oil through drain hose 150 and outward into an appropriate container, similar to that shown at 49, at some remote location. When the oil has been drained, the switch is deactuated and valve means 135 is moved to the closed position, sealing the central pump cavity 116 from drain hose 150.

It may have become evident from the above description and attached drawings that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the intended scope of this invention. Therefore only the following claims are to be taken as definitions of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. Oil drain pump assembly for internal combustion engines having a crank case with a threaded gravity drain opening therein, comprising:

a pump assembly housing having a central pump cavity formed therein defined by a continuous circumferential wall with an arcuate cam surface along said wall extending between an inlet opening and an outlet opening;

a threaded adapter complementary to the threaded drain opening for insertion into the opening to operatively interconnect the housing to the crankcase, said adapter having a aperture formed therein communicating with the cavity inlet to enable crankcase oil to drain through the adapter aperture into the central pump cavity;

a pump body rotatably mounted in the cavity for rotation about the longitudinal axis to receive oil through the inlet and to pump the oil from the cavity out the outlet;

said pump body comprised of a plurality of radially extending flexible impellers operatively having outer ends in wiping engagement with the wall of the pump cavity;

a motor affixed to the housing having a shaft connected to the pump body for rotating the pump body to successively move the impeller ends into engagement with the cam surface to effect a volume change between adjacent impellers to pump the oil therefrom; and

valve means mounted in the cavity outlet for selectively opening and closing the outlet, independent of operation of said motor.

2. The oil drain pump assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein the housing has a bore formed therein intersecting the outlet and wherein the valve means includes a rod slidably mounted in the bore for movement between a closed position in which the rod projects into the outlet to close the outlet, and an open position in which the rod is retracted from the outlet to open the outlet.

3. The oil drain pump assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein the valve me ans includes spring means operatively connected to the rod for biasing the rod from the open position to the closed position.

4. The oil drain pump assembly as defined in claim 3 wherein the rod is additionally mounted for rotation about the bore axis and wherein the assembly further comprises latching means responsive to the longitudinal and rotational movement of the rod for (a) securing the rod in the open position when the rod is positioned longitudinally in the open position and rotated in one direction; and for (b) releasing the rod when the rod is rotated in the opposite direction at the open position.

5. The oil drain pump is defined in claim 2 wherein the inlet and outlet openings extend laterally from said central pump cavity. 

1. Oil drain pump assembly for internal combustion engines having a crank case with a threaded gravity drain opening therein, comprising: a pump assembly housing having a central pump cavity formed therein defined by a continuous circumferential wall with an arcuate cam surface along said wall extending between an inlet opening and an outlet opening; a threaded adapter complementary to the threaded drain opening for insertion into the opening to operatively interconnect the housing to the crankcase, said adapter having a aperture formed therein communicating with the cavity inlet to enable crankcase oil to drain through the adapter aperture into the central pump cavity; a pump body rotatably mounted in the cavity for rotation about the longitudinal axis to receive oil through the inlet and to pump the oil from the cavity out the outlet; said pump body comprised of a plurality of radially extending flexible impellers operatively having outer ends in wiping engagement with the wall of the pump cavity; a motor affixed to the housing having a shaft connected to the pump body for rotating the pump body to successively move the impeller ends into engagement with the cam surface to effect a volume change between adjacent impellers to pump the oil therefrom; and valve means mounted in the cavity outlet for selectively opening and closing the outlet, independent of operation of said motor.
 2. The oil drain pump assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein the housing has a bore formed therein intersecting the outlet and wherein the valve means includes a rod slidably mounted in the bore for movement between a closed position in which the rod projects into the outlet to close the outlet, and an open position in which the rod is retracted from the outlet to open the outlet.
 3. The oil drain pump assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein the valve means includes spring means operatively connected to the rod for biasing the rod from the open position to the closed position.
 4. The oil drain pump assembly as defined in claim 3 wherein the rod is additionally mounted for rotation about the bore axis and wherein the assembly further comprises latching means responsive to the longitudinal and rotational movement of the rod for (a) securing the rod in the open position when the rod is positioned longitudinally in the open position and rotated in one direction; and for (b) releasing the rod when the rod is rotated in the opposite direction at the open position.
 5. The oil drain pump is defined in claim 2 wherein the inlet and outlet openings extend laterally from said central pump cavity. 